Human Impacts on the Environment

Answers may vary but might include increased energy consumption, burning of fossil fuels, cutting down of forests, overfishing in our oceans, and increased water consumption.

Recycling, reusing products, using alternative energy sources such as solar, driving electric cars, policies to protect the environment, etc.

Cutting down of tropical rainforests, climate change, increased human population, the destruction of habitats to build new homes, illegal hunting or poaching, etc.

Human activities are causing increased greenhouse gases in our atmosphere that traps heat and increases temperatures. The burning of fossil fuels for transportation and factories is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Glaciers are shrinking, sea levels are rising, warmer winters, changes in precipitation patterns, more droughts and heat waves leading to increased fires, stronger hurricanes, etc.

Air pollution such as smog in cities, contaminated drinking water, plastics in our oceans, the accumulation of trash in cities and landfills, etc.

The Industrial Revolution brought about many advancements in science, technology, and medicine along with improved nutrition that caused people to live longer.

There is an increased demand on our natural resources including trees for making products such as paper and furniture, water for drinking, and minerals to make products such as phones and fertilizers.

The creation of new laws and wildlife preserves have helped to protect animals like the bison come back from being close to extinction due to overhunting. New regulations as well as innovative ways of reseeding and replanting corals has helped Belize’s coral reefs come back from oil spills. Conservational biologists established a wildlife preserve to save the giant panda from becoming extinct in China.

Using alternative energies such as solar energy, using biodiesel that is made from plants rather than oil, carpooling to school or work, turning off cars while waiting to pick someone up, and using public transportation.

Bioplastics are biodegradable and break down in the environment much faster, reducing the amount of plastics in our oceans and landfills over time.

The increased human population has increased our need for freshwater, and we use over four times as much freshwater as we did only fifty years ago. Since only 1% of the water on our planet is fresh water, this is a limited natural resource. Some things we can do to conserve freshwater are taking shorter showers, turning off the water when you are washing your hands or brushing your teeth. Scientists and engineers have developed ways to turn saltwater into freshwater, but it is expensive and requires a lot of energy. More innovations in science and engineering may be able to help solve this problem in the future.